A Boy Queen
by Diglossia
Summary: A boy, born in Glacia, is destined to rule as Queen. Incest mentioned.
1. Chapter 1

The Queen of Arachnia spun one last tangled web. Outside her cave, it was twilight. The bright shifting sands would be dark soon and cold. She should retire and rest. Tomorrow she could decipher the messages. She slithered across the newly-spun web, ending the delicate strand with a slight whir.

Her middle back leg brushed across the central strand and a flash of knowing spread through her cautious mind. A strong web. She paused, turning back. Sleep could wait; this was important.

Arachnia brushed her ancient leg across the web. A vision of a pale human creature, a Queen of dark power, rising to rule a fractured land in Kaeleer.

Witch was dead not ten years and a darknesss untouched by Jewel power was rising again in the Shadow Realm, that was what the spider Queen thought. She touched the web again, wondering whether this was a dream or a prophecy. It had been spun by her, so it must be.

No, she thought, studying the web more closely. This web reminded her of the psychic scent of a human she had once known. A proud, blonde Queen who had passed into the Darkness years ago.

Karla, the Glacian Queen. Once a friend of Witch, Karla had given her memories to save the Queen of the Realms. Arachnia had watched her cede Glacia to Witch to allow Witch to become the ultimate Queen of Kaeleer. It had been an unthinkable choice for a Territory Queen but Karla had been the first to do so. Even Arachnia had not dared speak those words until the human Queen had.

It was in her memory that Arachnia delayed sleep to read the intricacies of the tangled web before her. A Queen of Karla's line- that was a perfectly normal occurrence, Glacians were a short-lived race, so a new generation could have been born- young, intelligent, powerful- everything seemed in order.

Arachnia rubbed her front legs together in exhaustion. Perhaps there had been nothing extraordinary about the web. Perhaps it had been a residual passed through her and borne out on a late spun web.

She sent out a tendril to touch the web, searching for anything useful. When she did find it, the Queen of Arachnia was stunned. The Queen destined to rebuild a sector of Glacia…was male.

She must send a message to Witch's human friends, to warn them and to secure the boy's future. If Glacia fell into revolution and warfare again, the boy might be killed before his time. He needed guidance and training from someone who would overlook this…anomaly.

The boy had to be found.

ØØØ

"This is not possible!" Morghann, the former Queen of Scelt, screamed, throwing the ceramic jug against the wall.

It shattered against the green painted wall, the pieces littering the floor of Morghann's mansion.

"The Queen of Glacia had no children. _Karla_ had no children. She never knew a man after her Virgin Night. This isn't possible!"

Kalush, the aging Queen of Nharkhava, sighed, plucking at her gown.

"That is not quite true," Sabrina, Queen of Dharo, whispered.

Morghann's eyebrows rose.

"Really, Morghann, were you blind? Karla never kept an official Consort, it is true, but-"

"Morton was always there," Kalush finished quietly.

Morghann shook her head.

"You're lying."

"No. The boy is her grandson, by Morton."

"Karla would have never-"

"She did, Morghann."

ØØØ

Matti stared at the book before him, turning the pages slowly as he finished reading. Sirkka, his governess and nursemaid, played with her music crystals, huffing with boredom.

"I hate you," she said suddenly.

Matti looked up.

"What did I do?" Matti asked, his lip trembling.

"Nothing, everything," Sirkka said, not bothering to look at Matti, "Right now, I could be at court, talking to a handsome Warlord with Purple Dusk Jewels. Instead, I sit here, day after day, watching _you_."

"I'm sorry," Matti said as tears wet his cheeks.

"Oh, cry," Sirkka said, flicking her fingers idly against her shoulder, "You're such a baby."

The door to the nursery swung open. Eveliina swept into the room, talking loudly to someone behind her. A woman stepped inside, her elegant head turning as she surveyed the room. Her lip curled in disgust at what she saw.

Matti gaped at the woman. Her skin was an incredibly dark shade, exotic beyond belief to the Glacian child. A glittering black dress clung to her shapely form. It swished as she walked towards Sirkka.

"Lady Eveliina," she said, extending a hand to Sirkka, though her focus was still on Eveliina, "You received a summons to appear before the Warlord Prince of Dhemlan in regards to a boy in your care. You failed to make that appointment. The Prince is not pleased. I am here to take the boy into protective custody until he has been evaluated to the satisfaction of the Prince. Where is the boy?"

"Lady, you cannot take him," Eveliina protested, standing in front of Matti, her hands outspread, "He's a freak of nature, an abnormality. He needs to be contained-"

The cold woman pushed Eveliina aside and knelt down before Matti, studying him.

"You, boy, what is your name?" she asked.

"Matti."

"Mattiesko," Eveliina said.

"Well, Mattiesko, my name is Surreal. Gather your things and say your goodbyes, you are coming with me."

"Where are we going?" Matti asked.

Surreal smiled at him, the ice in her gaze seeming to melt somewhat.

"We're going somewhere far far away from here where the witches are real women and not sniveling bitches."

ØØØ

The boy was reading as a full-power Queen according to all the Healers. Surreal had shrugged when a startled Healer relayed the news to her. It made no difference if the boy was a Warlord or a Priestess to her. Surreal had long ago given up surprise at the odd turns the Blood could take. A hundred years before she would have said kindred were a myth and that Black was the darkest Jewel in existence.

Surreal wondered what Jewel he would wear when he made his Offering. Karla had worn the Gray. What would Matti wear?


	2. Chapter 2

Surreal smirked when Matti walked out of the small room he had been given. She had woken him thirty minutes earlier, telling him to get dressed; they were going to the Keep.

They were staying in Kalush's home in Nharkhava and the Queen had given them adjoining rooms so that Surreal could watch over the boy without unnerving him too terribly much. In Surreal's opinion, the careful room planning had backfired. The boy had become attached to Surreal in a disturbingly childlike way, following her wherever she and Graykin went, up to and including waiting outside the restroom when Surreal had to relieve herself.

Surreal ruffled Graykin's head as she looked Matti's clothing choices over. Simple colors, light blue and cream, and a simple design, pin-striped pants and a close-fitting shirt. He reminded her strongly of Karla with his spiky white-blonde hair and sharp blue eyes. She wondered again how old he was; it was something she had not been debriefed on and something she had difficulty guessing. Surreal had grown up among Hayllians, a race that matured extremely slowly with puberty occurring as late as twenty-five on average. Matti was Glacian and, for all Surreal knew, could be eight or fifteen years old.

"Do I look okay?" he asked nervously, his fingers thrumming against his thighs.

Surreal suppressed a sigh. Not at all like Karla, then. Matti had no confidence.

"Come on, boyo," Surreal said, trying hard to swallow her disappointment, "We'll be late if we don't hurry."

They took a Coach to the Landing Web just outside Kalush's Territory. Surreal stepped out lightly, Graykin winding between her legs with excitement. Surreal smiled down at the wolf, Graysfang's grandnephew, glad that she had some familiarly chatty company. Though Matti did not know how to hear Graykin yet, the wolf was bursting with questions and gossip, and was nearly biting Surreal's ear off with thoughts.

Surreal wrapped the three of them in a Red shield and stepped forward onto the platform. Matti stayed just off the platform, looking up at her anxiously. This time Surreal did sigh.

"You need to stay close to me, Mattiesko, or you'll get lost."

Matti nodded reluctantly. He stepped onto the platform beside her and slipped his cold white hand into hers, gripping tightly. Surreal flinched slightly in surprise but did not pull away. She _had_ said close.

ØØØ

Surreal looked at the wall of Saetan's study, wishing it were harder. She desperately wanted to throw her head against it and erase this mental muddle of a headache Matti was giving her with some real pain.

The boy had fainted when Saetan asked him to sit down. He had _fainted_. Granted, Uncle Saetan was a rather frightening person, being the High Lord of Hell and a Warlord Prince with Black power practically radiating out from him, but Surreal remembered vividly the easy vulgarity that Karla had entertained around the man, and had expected a _shred_ of spine from her grandson.

Matti had managed to survive the actual meeting after he'd been revived, so Surreal was not completely horrified by his terrifyingly weak character, but she was still unhappy. The boy needed to grow some balls.

_*Surreal_?* Graykin asked.

_*Yeah?*_

_*The pup's eyes are leaking again. I think they might be infected.*_

"Shit," Surreal swore, getting up from her chair, "Sorry, Uncle Saetan, Matti's crying."

"Did I upset him?" Saetan asked, looking up from his book.

Surreal shrugged and walked out the door, not realizing she had passed through it until she had. Maybe the boy was getting on her nerves more than she had thought, if she was falling back on Craft without thinking. Surreal considered herself a much disciplined witch and would have gutted a man for distracting her enough to phase through a chair, let alone a stone door. Matti, however, was not someone she could kill. Surreal settled for stalking to the boy's temporary room and banging on the door with Green-level force.

"Go away!" Matti yelled, the sound muffled by the door.

Surreal rolled her eyes and stepped inside the room, letting the door slam behind her.

Matti sat on his perfectly-made bed, his hands covering his face. Graykin sat on the floor in front of him, a paw on the boy's knee. Matti looked up when the door shut.

Surreal sat down next to him and watched the tears roll down the boy's cheeks. Pathetic, she thought.

"Please stop crying," she said through gritted teeth, "I know he's scary, kid, but, shit, he's not that bad."

"I-it's not that," Matti stuttered, "I mean, he is kinda scary b-but that's not it."

Surreal put an arm around the boy's shoulder awkwardly. She really wanted to smack him and tell him to grow up. Then she remembered Matti was a child and had grown up in a nursery with only a bored governess bitch who ignored him as company. Hell's fire, if she'd been treated like an infant for most of her life, she would've acted like one, too.

"Then what is it? Why are you crying?" Surreal asked, trying to sound as motherly as possible.

"He put his wrists under mine and called me queen," Matti whispered.

The hairs on Surreal's spine rose as something clicked in her mind. This was something she could relate to.

"You're not a freak," she snarled.

"But I'm a boy. I can't be a Queen. It's wrong. It's unnatural. I shouldn't have been allowed to be born. The Healer should have killed me when she had the chance before my mother ever saw me. I shouldn't-"

"Shut up," Surreal snapped, "Don't you dare talk like that. What you just said, those words, are shit. You can't change the way you were born and it's not your fault. Your mother could have aborted you; she didn't.

Let me tell you something. My mother was a Dea al Mon Queen and Black Widow. My father raped her and broke her, then abandoned her, leaving Titian pregnant and bleeding. She could have aborted me but she didn't. She kept the baby of a man she hated and she raised me as well and as long as she could.

So, boy, don't ever let someone tell you that you are a mistake or a freak or whatever they may choose to call you. Your mother, a witch, chose to give birth to you. That makes you worth being alive."

"I'm still a freak."

Surreal smiled cruelly, hooking her hair behind her ears. The boy's eyes widened at the delicate points.

"I have spent my whole life being called a freak, Mattiesko of Glacia. I am a half-breed between a long-lived race and a short-lived. But you know what? All that shit people say is just that, shit. It's old beliefs and cracked-headed hag's tales by people too scared to embrace something new. So you're a queen. So what? I have known broken Queens who ruled whole territories and men who were- and are- Black Widows. You are not a freak: you are simply something no one has come across before."

"But how can I have a court? I'm _male_."

Surreal grabbed his chin roughly and forced his eyes up to meet hers.

"Boy, you are a Queen. Males will flock to you when they feel your psychic scent, just like they do with every other Queen. You just have to wait."

"But-"

Surreal growled.

"I really wish you were more like Karla," she said, standing back up, "She had the sharpest tongue and the best way with prickly men. She never doubted herself. She never-"

Surreal stopped, the harsh words fading from her lips as she saw Matti's expression. His blue eyes had grown big and shiny with tears and his lip trembled. Surreal closed her eyes tightly. She hated children, she really did. They were so emotional and helpless, reminding her more of fragile dolls than human beings. Surreal's childhood had been short even for the Dea al Mon part of her heritage. By twelve she had been through her Virgin Night and her first kill. By fifteen she had become a working prostitute and an occasional assassin, used to hiding her true feelings and weaknesses.

"I'm sorry, Matti," Surreal said, her hand on the boy's shoulder, "I wasn't thinking."

"It's okay," the boy sniffled, "Nobody ever does."

Surreal stared at him, the room turning slowly ice-cold with Jewel-fueled anger.

ØØØ

"When should Matti have his Birthright Ceremony?" Surreal asked much later from her chair in Saetan's study.

Saetan looked up, frowning.

"I honestly have no idea, Surreal. He's from a short-lived race so it should be when he's fairly young. Geoffrey?"

Geoffrey sucked on his already hollow cheeks, becoming if anything more ghastly in appearance. His ruby lips drew tight, still sensuously full but oh so definitely angered.

"Glacian children typically experience the Birthright Ceremony in the year between their seventh and eighth birthdays."

"Matti is nine," Saetan said.

Surreal's eyebrow rose. Nine? Mother night, _nine_? Maybe he wasn't as sensitive as she had thought if he was that young.

"Duly noted. It can only be assumed that his guardians kept him from an Altar deliberately."

"That's against almost all Blood Laws. Is it against Glacian?" Saetan murmured, his golden eyes hardening.

"Under the Glacian constitution, it has the same punishment as breaking a witch. The boy's power, should he have any, has been withheld from him and, if the Ceremony is not performed soon, may be lost forever," Geoffrey said solemnly.


	3. Chapter 3

Surreal would become Matti's joint guardian until he reached maturity, according to Daemon and Uncle Saetan. She had bitched something fierce when they had proposed the idea but the second Matti walked out of the Birthright Ceremony with the darkest Sapphire Jewels she had ever seen, Surreal had swallowed her anger. A Sapphire Jewel was something to be reckoned with, more power than Surreal herself had had at his age. Surreal felt somewhat honored to be asked to look after the boy.

He still annoyed the Darkness out of her.

Matti was immaculately anal in everything he did, from making his bed to perfecting his Craft. The boy never had a hair out of place and his court etiquette was so engrained that Surreal would often look to him for the proper bow or greeting when they visited the various Queens in Kaeleer. Having once been part of Jaenelle Angelline's court, Surreal could pass through the multitude of Territories in the Shadow Realm with little difficulty. By his thirteenth birthday, Matti had been announced in the courts of Scelt, Dhemlan, Dharo, Nharkhava, Ebon Rih, Little Terreille, and the woods of the Dea al Mon.

Surreal had been privately devastated by the lack of familiar faces among the courts of Kaeleer. In Terreille, she had never associated with the courts and the bitches who ruled them but, here in Kaeleer, she had personally known the grandmothers and grandfathers of the current Queens and aristos. Seventy years had passed since Surreal had first come to Kaeleer and the land, rife with short-lived races and kindred, had changed. Three Queens, Morghann, Sabrina, and Kalush, were still alive and even they were at the end of their lives. Surreal knew she had at least a century more. It hurt to have so many friends return to the Darkness.

By Matti's eighteenth birthday, they were all dead.

ØØØ

The dance filled Rizaro as he moved with his partners. He needed this dance just as his partners did; he needed to feel the world moving together as one, a one that for just a short while, they controlled and lived. It was a rare day that so many of his people gathered together and so many so young. Summer in the jungle, jasmine blossoms and rotting earth seeping the air and the senses, warm shadows and clearings of soft light, racing blood and sensual sweat, moving hips and whirling fur. Togetherness, oneness. It was magic, Craft that was not Craft, quick, sensual, seductive movement.

Rizaro threw his head back in joy, letting the dance flow through him. He paused, his head half back, in curiosity. His sisters and brothers danced intoxicatingly well but something else was there, something far more interesting than anything he had smelled before. Rizaro's nostrils flared as he sniffed the air, wondering what it was that he smelled.

A pale form slipping between the dancers caught his cat-like attention. Rizaro moved away from his partners and followed it to the table with water and refreshments. He stood a pace away and watched as the pale form materialized into a creature he had never seen in real life before: a human.

He studied the human, noting the pale skin, white fur and oddly-shaped hands. The human picked up a cup of water and drank, the muscles of its neck shifting slightly in a way that made Rizaro's heart race. It's eyes opened and Rizaro had a glimpse of _blue_, a color Rizaro had never seen in a human's eyes before. His groin tightened deliciously as he watched the human place the cup down.

Rizaro stayed like that for a while, just watching the human. He was confused by his reaction to the stranger. Could humans and Tigrelans mate? Was it even possible, let alone acceptable, to be attracted to a human? He wondered those and many other questions as he watched the creature.

When it began to move away to rejoin the dancing crowd, Rizaro made his move. He stepped before the human abruptly. It looked up, startled. Rizaro realized swiftly that it was a boy and much more attractive close up. Icily pale with shockingly blue eyes, a thin frame, and the most enamoring look of surprise on its- his- face.

The Tigrelan flashed his teeth brazenly at the cold boy, flicking his pink tongue against his near canine. He watched in pleasure at the way the boy blushed, a hint of color in that delicate, pale face.

Rizaro grabbed his elbow and pulled the boy close, tilting his white, white chin up so that their eyes met. Blue, glacier-filled eyes stared up at him. Rizaro flicked his tongue again. The boy watched, mesmerized, and did not notice the way Rizaro shifted into him so that the boy's hip rested against his.

"Hello," he whispered into the boy's ear, "I haven't seen you before."

"I, uh, I've never been here-"

"What's your name?"

The boy gulped, the fine muscles in his neck moving mesmerizingly. Rizaro trailed a sheathed claw along the boy's neck and breathed in the boy's heady psychic scent. The Warlord Prince in him growled, demanding the boy, wanting to stroke him and claim him right there.

"Matti," he said shakily.

"Ma-tti," Rizaro repeated, rolling the word on his tongue, "Matti. What in the Darkness are you doing here?"

"Visiting," Matti squeaked as Rizaro slid a hand onto the boy's waist and drew him closer, "I'm visiting Lady Naara and someone invited me to come tonight. Am I not supposed to be here?"

Rizaro chuckled and traced a pattern along the boy's neck, making him gasp delectably.

"Oh, everyone's welcome here. I've just never seen a human before so close," he murmured, "What race are you, Matti?"

"Glacian, from Glacia."

Rizaro laughed.

"Yes, I would suppose that someone from Glacia is a Glacian. You know, I happen to know a few words in Glacian," Rizaro said before he whispered something against the boy's skin, making his blue eyes widen in shock.

Rizaro heard Matti's name called. The boy looked back, muttering something about his friends leaving. Rizaro traced a single line against the boy's jaw.

"I'll see you later," he growled before slipping away among the lithe, dancing bodies of his fellows.

The Glacian would be _his_, something primal inside Rizaro decided. That one thought crowded his mind, pushing away the confusion welling inside of him. Something about the boy spoke to him on a level he did not understand quite yet but Rizaro knew he had to have him.

ØØØ

Surreal sighed and petted Graykin's head. The wolf snorted and buried his hairy head into the hollow of her chest, wuffling softly. Today Matti would enter the Altar to begin his Offering to the Darkness and claim his full power. Today Matti would leave her guardianship and she would pull away from the Glacian's life.

Matti had grown into a beautiful boy. He was still too quiet and polite for Surreal's taste but he was well-trained in Craft and weaponry. Surreal had sent a message to Saetan, asking him what he wanted her to do. Matti had yet to attract enough males to create a court or even an Inner Circle. He had time but Surreal continued to worry.

It wasn't like the boy was terrible in bed, Surreal had made sure of _that_. Matti just unnerved people with his androgyny and, of course, his actual gender. It would take a very self-assured group of males to be willing to fight for him when they could more easily serve a weaker, more normal Queen.

Surreal tapped her forehead with a slim finger, wondering once again if the boy would ever become anything.


	4. Chapter 4

Matti stared at the box that Surreal offered him. He smiled uncertainly and took it, undoing the ribbons that held it closed.

"It will protect you when you need it," she said.

"I don't need protection," he said softly, his eyes on the half-opened box.

"Matti, you don't have the strength I have. There's a Gray-level shield contained in that ring-"

"You gave me a ring."

"Yes."

"Because I came out with Sapphire Jewels."

Surreal winced.

"Yes," she admitted.

"Because I'm a disappointment."

Surreal was silent for a moment. She had expected Matti to come out wearing the Red or even the Gray, not another set of Sapphire. She looked up to see Matti watching her. His cold blue eyes studied her before his lips broke into a brilliant smile.

"You had this made before I made the Offering. You were going to give me this no matter what Jewels I came out with, yes?" he asked, still smiling. "Thank you, Surreal."

ØØØ

The letters went out later that evening, letters to every Territory Matti had connections to, letters asking for males to serve a Sapphire-Jeweled Queen at her soon to be formed Court. Responses came quickly from many of the Territories and minor lands, some refusals, some happy acceptances. In all, fifteen males and twenty witches sent messages back with mention of interest and curiosity. It seemed to Surreal that Matti would be fine on his own and that her guardianship was truly no longer needed.

So they said their goodbyes and had one last meal together at an opera house in Dhemlan. In the morning, they gathered Matti's things and rode the Winds to the nearest Gate. Surreal shook Matti's hand and Greykin whined softly as the manchild stepped away to begin his new life.

ØØØ

Matti kneeled before the Priestess as he asked her formally to open the Gate that would return him to Glacia.

The group waiting on the other side of the Gate was old friends. Scéan, an Opal-Jeweled Prince from Scelt, Kalu, also a Prince, from Dharo, wearing Green Jewels, and Hajah, a Green-Jeweled witch from Tigrelan. Scéan embraced Matti warmly, kissing his cheek as the others laughed and touched his hair and clothes happily. It had been too long, almost a year, since they had last seen their Queen.

A man stepped from Hajah's side and proffered his wrists in greeting.

"You," he whispered, looking down at the familiar gray eyes.

"Me," Rizaro said, "I wish to serve."

Matti smiled shyly and placed his hands over the Tigrelan's wrists. Rizaro knelt before him and kissed his hands, ending the formalities with a crooked grin.

"I have missed you, my Queen," Rizaro said smoothly before standing again.

"As have I, Prince Rizaro," Matti murmured, his smile blossoming heatedly as he watched the Tigrelan move closer.

A hand at the small of Matti's back, Rizaro lead the Matti to the Coach that would take them back to the Glacian's mansion.

Through an almost forgotten will in the possession of Saetan SaDiablo, Matti- the sole known descendant of the former Queen of Glacia- had inherited a small mansion in Kokkola, Glacia's second-largest city, as well as residences in Hameenlinna and Vaasa. It was to Kokkola that the small group would go.

Kokkola lay on the icy western coast of Glacia. It was a port city filled with hardened sailors and fish markets but also a hub of mercantile factories and the center of Glacian fashion. Here Matti would form his Court and here he would begin his rule. Kokkola was a kinder place than southern Glacia where riots, rape, and murder were everday occurrences.

When Karla had ruled Glacia, the land had been in a renaissance of sorts, a revival of the old Blood traditions. Queens were to be respected in her time and Warlords protected females and breaking witches was no longer an amusing sport. It was a stark contrast to the land before and after her. Glacia had fallen into moral and physical decay since.

Had Karla's child had the strength to preserve or protect Glacia, things would likely have been different. But even Matti did not know who his parents had been or what had happened to them. From what Eveliina had told him, his parents had been degenerates who had spawned a child and abandoned him when it was discovered that he too was abnormal. Matti had listened to his caretaker and had rarely paused to think over his parents. They had not cared for him and he did not care for them.

ØØØ

Matti settled into the thick blankets with a soft sigh. The mansion had needed severe cleaning: whoever had resided there last had left everything to a thick covering of dust. Carpets, mirrors, and furniture had needed spell after spell to remove the dust and grime. Matti was not satisfied with his efforts and planned to do more in the morning, before the applicants to his Court arrived. He was anxious still about meeting so many new people who would be looking to him for leadership.

That night he dreamed of terrible things: broken, barren women limping through the streets of Kokkola and red-eyed Warlord Princes smiling grimly as they dug knives into the ribs of lesser men. Matti watched, his eyes refusing to shut, as witches screamed and writhed, blood seeping from between their legs as they walked. Their blood dripped upon the ground and witchblood blossoms bloomed along the sides of the streets. He called out to them, saying he was a Queen, a Sapphire-Jeweled Queen who would protect them from the predators stalking them but they could not hear him.


	5. Chapter 5

"Your request for territory has been denied," Surreal read coolly. She scowled and sorted through the copies of territory request forms, noting the word denied stamped in dark red ink through the middle of each one.

"Request for territory in the eastern quadrant of Glacia- denied. Request for territory in the southeastern sector of Glacia- denied. Request for territory in- denied. Request for territory in a city no one's ever heard of- denied. Graykin-" she snarled, tossing the papers onto the low couch table. "They are all denied, every last one! Look at the dates, denied the same day the Queens saw them! Those bitches didn't even take the time to think about it before denying him!"

*It is because he is little more than a pup?* Graykin asked, laying his muzzle on the table and peering at the documents.

"No, it's because those bitches don't want to give him a chance."

*I think it is because he is young. Queens take time to grow. They do not rule territory until they are older. Some do not rule territory at all: I know of many wolf queens that rule courts before they rule territory. When they are older, they rule territories, some small, some larger. Perhaps that is the way of the humans of Glacia.*

Surreal bared her teeth and snarled.

"I doubt it."

*I do not. But you should not worry. He is not our pup any longer and you are not a Queen who can give him territory.*

Surreal pursed her lips. Graykin was right: _Surreal_ could not give Mattiesko territory. But she knew someone who could.

ØØØ

"Lady Surreal? We were not expecting you; I fear the eyrie is unsuitable for visitors-"

Surreal waved off Marian's worried apology. The woman still called her Lady and it annoyed Surreal to death that the Eyrien treated her like an aristo for all that Surreal and Lucivar, Marian's husband, considered each other family. Marian was better than she used to be but her attitude continued to be repulsively self-deprecating.

"Is Lucivar here?" she asked as Graykin found his way into the kitchen. Marian led Surreal to the parlor table and called in a carafe of wine and two glasses.

"Yes and no. He is in the area teaching Gyvar his sticks. I will call him for you," Marian said, her brow creased anxiously as she stood up and went to the eyrie door. Surreal rolled her eyes at the woman's back, annoyed by her constant worrying. Graykin woofed and sniffed at Marian's coldbox.

They waited in somewhat awkward silence as they waited for Lucivar to return. Surreal, already angry by Matti's myriad rejection letters, was hardly interested in maintaining small talk about Marian's latest flower arrangement or her plans for wintering the garden.

When Lucivar arrived, Marian excused herself. Surreal turned to Lucivar and explained the situation to him, producing the letters from her pocket.

"Look at this shit, Lucivar! Hell's fire, he's a Queen and he's of age, and these snot-nosed bitches won't give him a scrap of land!" she snarled, ready to spit on the red ink.

Lucivar sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"Surreal, you're talking to the wrong person. I don't have any control over Glacia and the Territory Queen's little more than a puppet for the Council."

"But you have land here," Surreal said earnestly, leaning on her elbows. "You can give him territory over a city or a landen township, it doesn't matter. He just needs somewhere to rule."

Lucivar leaned back in his chair. He glanced at the ceiling for a moment before looking back at Surreal.

"Look, Surreal, I'd like to help you but understand this: Matti is Glacian. Giving him control of a place in Ebon Rih would hardly help him. He doesn't speak Eyrien and he would be ridiculed for not having wings, not including the troubles he would bring with him anyway. It would be a nightmare for him to rule in a Territory he doesn't know."

Surreal scraped her lip between her teeth angrily.

"He doesn't have to deal with Eyriens. You could give him an out of the way place no one would notice. Matti'd have land, that's all that matters."

"It would be better for him to rule in Glacia," Lucivar said firmly.

"But these Glacian bitches won't give him land!" Surreal snarled.

"Then that is their decision, Surreal. It's not up to you to fight Matti's battles. Did he even ask for your help?"

Surreal scowled.

"Of course not. He never asks for help."

"So let him fight his own battles. A Queen who rules through her own strength is more respected than a Queen who relies on her family to get her where she is. Matti has the beginnings of a court. Leave him to find his own way."

Surreal shoved her chair back and stood up. She vanished the letters angrily and stormed out the door, snapping her fingers to Graykin to follow her.

ØØØ

Matti stirred from where he was wrapped in Rizaro's arms, the Tigrelan's leg flung across his knees. He could feel the beginnings of a speech thread reaching out to find him. It was Sapphire-locked, of that he was sure, with a definite feminine feel. Surreal.

*Matti, are you awake? I'll be past the Landing Web in a few minutes. I'm going to drop in outside of the mansion.*

*I'll send a servant to escort you in.*

*Screw the servant and come see me in yourself. This is important.*

Surreal cut the line and Matti was left in silence save for the sound of Rizaro's purring snore. He pulled his limbs away from his Consort's grip and untangled himself from the mussed bedsheets, heading for the bathroom to take a quick shower.

He met Surreal outside the mansion's ornate front doors and was surprised to see her clothes and hair in an odd state of disrepair, as though she had run her way to the mansion rather than taken the Winds.

"Lady Surreal," he said quietly, waiting for her to extend her wrists in proper deference, forgetting in his sleepiness that she was hardly one for propriety. Matti hugged her awkwardly to ease the tension left by Surreal's lack of movement and knelt before Graykin, ruffling the wolf's fur. Graykin wolfed and prostrated himself belly up before Matti in the wolf's version of deference to a Queen. Matti smiled and pressed his nails Graykin's stomach before standing back up.

He led Surreal inside, the woman unusually quiet. Matti wondered what subject had such import that Surreal would be so cryptic in her message before and untalkative about the same now. He was faring rather well for a young Queen- he had a central home, the beginnings of a Court (if not a coven), and money enough for the time being. Matti had no enemies that he knew of, no one who cared enough to look his way and develop anxiety or jealousy. He was doing well.

They entered a large drawing room adorned with tasteful paintings and sparse decorations. Two sofas sat facing each other around a small coffee table. Matti indicated that Surreal sit with a small turn of his wrist.

"Now, Lady, what did you wish to speak to me about?" he asked calmly as he called in a plate of finger sandwiches and a carafe of sweet juice.

Surreal curled her lip at the offerings and settled back into the sofa, crossing her legs elegantly. She looked around the room in mild disapproval for a second before training her sharp gaze on Matti.

"Are you happy?" she asked. The question sounded odd to Matti's ears. It was loaded with possible double meanings and he pondered meanings as wide ranging as general health and political positioning.

"I am," he said slowly, pouring a cup of juice and placing it before Surreal. She ignored it, tucking a strand of black hair behind a finely-pointed ear.

"How many men are serving you now?" Surreal asked abruptly.

"Five in Court, six as servants."

"Do you have a coven yet?" she grilled, her eyes boring into him with a punishing glare.

"No," Matti admitted as he fiddled with his pants' leg. "But I have little need of one yet. I have no Territory to speak of."

Surreal nodded and leaned forward.

"Are you angry, Mattiesko?" she said softly.

Matti sucked in a breath.

"Why would I be?" he answered. Surreal's lip twitched as though in angered amusement.

"Because you _don't_ have Territory. What use has a Queen without Territory?" she asked, leaning even closer.

"This isn't about me, is it," Matti said, glancing down at the coffee table sadly. Surreal raised an eyebrow. "I've reached my majority but I haven't done what you wanted me to do, have I?" He waved his hand, vanishing the plate and juice. Surreal's cup was all that remained on the suddenly clear table. "You want me to do something or you wouldn't be interfering with my life. It is not hard to guess why a Gray-Jeweled witch of the SaDiablo bloodline would keep relations with a Sapphire-Jeweled Queen from such a backward place as Glacia." Matti gave Surreal an inscrutable look. "What is it you have planned for me, Surreal?"

Surreal smiled.

"I have something to show you," she said.


End file.
